Meet Ali Ayhan | Content Creator, Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ali Ayhan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ali, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I wanted to do something I enjoy and at the same time, be useful for other people. So, I looked for ways to inform people about some topics I am interested in. I decided that starting a social media account is an easy and fun way to do it. That’s why I opened up my accounts. I didn’t have any big expectations when I started. I just wanted to share information about flags and symbolism. For this reason, I didn’t care if I had many likes or comments or not. Later, it grew up pretty quickly. My aim was to find a way to tell other people about flags, symbols and their meanings. I knew I could find some people who are interested in these around the world.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I share informative posts and videos about national and regional flags, logos and symbols of some famous brands around the world. My contents are simple, short and appealing to the eye. It is what attracts the audience I suppose. I tried to find a unique and high-quality design for some time. At first, it was not attractive at all, but I kept on trying. After trying some different designs, I realized that simplicity and relatedness are some of the key factors. The contents that explain some concepts in simple words with related images are creating more differences. One of the hardest parts of the project is to find ways to explain those concepts in simple and effective words. It requires much research and effort.

Apart from my project, I am doing quite a lot of different things. I am a teacher and a translator and also a masters degree student. Working and studying take a big part in my life. Besides, I am doing sports, learning languages and travelling. Running the project with all these is challenging but it is like a passion for me. Most of the time, I don’t sleep enough but I feel it is worth it.

I aim to increase people’s general knowledge about different flags, symbols and brands around the world in an enjoyable way. Growing has never been my number one priority, it was always about telling and sharing. So not growing fast at first didn’t have any negative effect on me. I think looking for better ways to share information with passion and not giving up because of not growing for a period of time is a key factor to success in my example. If my project can lead some people to be interested in the topic, make some research about it or be entertained, I will be genuinely glad.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am from Turkey and I have lived in Istanbul for many years. It is the place where I spent my childhood and adolescent years. But I have been living in another city called Bursa which is one of the biggest cities of Turkey. It is located in the north west part of Turkey. It is easy to reach the city from Istanbul and It is possible to travel here by car, ferry or public bus in just 2-3 hours from Istanbul. If you are interested in history, there are some spots that you can visit. You will immediately notice an old mosque in the center of the city, the Grand Mosque of Bursa. It was built in 1399, during the Ottoman Period. Around it, there are some other historical buildings such as city walls, the Green Mosque and so on. Uludag, a volcanic mountain, which is no longer active, is another spot to visit. It is possible to go skiing there if you are interested. It snows at the top of the mountain for many months during the year. Apart from that, you may visit Tirilye or Mudanya if you enjoy walking next to the sea. Both of these places have historical sites and good nature. If you have time, I would recommend you to visit Cumalıkızık village, an old Ottoman village. It is better to go there in the morning as they have cool breakfast. Speaking of food, you need to try Iskender Kebab in Bursa. There is a restaurant very close to the Grand Mosque of Bursa. It is the first Iskender Kebab restaurant opened in the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

I have been interested in flags and symbolism for many years. In fact, when I was a child, I used to draw maps and flags in my free time. At some point, I felt like I needed to share what I have learned in those years with some other people. Honestly, I didn’t have much time to think about it before the isolation period due to Covid because I already had some other career plans in my mind. When we started to work from home, I had some extra time to spend with my hobbies. The idea formed in this period but I didn’t take any action. Then, just a couple of months ago, I opened up my accounts.

My family has always been by my side. So they deserve a lot of credit. They never doubted me. Although the design, the idea and all other parts of the project belong to me, there is somebody else behind this project with me. Somebody, who shall remain nameless, from Ukraine, who encouraged and supported me through this journey. So I am really thankful to this person.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flag.you/

Linkedin: https://tr.linkedin.com/in/ali-ayhan-671772140

Twitter: https://twitter.com/flagyou1/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@flagyou2034